


Valentine

by enma



Category: Firefly, Serenity
Genre: Amnesia, Character Death, Conditioning, Horror, M/M, Multiple Personalities, Some Romance, Suicide Attempt, Torture, based off a poem I butchered, or not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 18:56:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 5,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/814880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enma/pseuds/enma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bad things happen to Simon a lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Thorny Roses are Red

**Author's Note:**

> I found a version of the 'Roses are Red' poem that I liked. I promptly got inspired, butchered the poem to my own liking and wrote this rubbish. XD

He was on the floor.   
He blinked slowly, trying to focus on his surroundings. His left eye cleared but there was something wrong with the other one. He realised it was because his face was pressed to the ground. It was cold and wet against the steel floor.   
His right arm was flung out and he couldn't feel his left. He rolled his eye, hoping to see where the numb limb was but couldn't see past his shoulder. Everything further than that was blurring around the edges anyways.  
There was a dull pain from his shoulders down and the rest of his body didn't seem to want to communicate.  
An experimental shift sent fire racing up his spine and his stomach roiled. 

An unknown time later he decided he could breathe again without having to worry about screaming or throwing up.  
His whole body was a strange mixture of pain-fire and ice. He was hurt somehow and in shock.   
Assessment complete, he voted for trying to figure out where he was and why, rather than attempt to move. 

He couldn't remember. The past was blank.  
His head was beginning to throb. It felt like a giant pulse-point. A drumming river of pressure flowing through his skull.  
River...  
Yes! River! He latched onto that thought desperately.   
River was his sister. His mei-mei. Mismatched memories of a girl with black hair and big curious eyes.   
There had been fear and running. And... maybe a spaceship?   
No. It was blank again.   
But he was sure about River.  
Was she okay?  
He searched the room again. Nothing but grey and red.   
Wait.   
Red?


	2. Forget-me-nots are blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter the bad guys! XD

"Simon. Simon Tam."  
Who? He opened his eyes to the stern glare of a man dressed in black.  
"Glad to see you finally joined us." He didn't sound it.  
"Where...?" His throat felt like sandpaper and even that croak hurt.  
"It doesn't matter where you are. What we want to know is where your sister is. Where is River?"  
"I... don't know..."  
"Not good enough Simon."  
Then the pain started.

It was eternity of torture. Burning swept along every nerve, tearing him apart from the inside. Screaming barely helped; a meager buffer against the agony.  
Where is River? Where is River? Who is she with? Where is she? Where have you hidden her? They blurred into an endless stream, resonating around his skull until he thought he'd go mad.   
"I don't know. I don't know. I DON'T KNOW!"


	3. The poisoned Honey is Sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh-oh.

"I don't think he's going to tell us anything." The two men gazed into the cell and the broken figure inside.

It had been a month. Not that Simon knew that. Eventually he'd broken on the table and simply screamed until they sedated him. Now he sat huddled up in a corner, muttering, "I don't know..." over and over.

"He can still be useful. The program used on his sister is now perfected yes?"  
The smaller man nodded and smiled.

"Simon?"  
He slowly looked up at the man. He didn't like this one. He gave him pain.  
"Do you know where your sister is?"  
Panic rose up and began to grip round his throat. He managed to shake his head no.  
"Would you like to know?"  
This was new. Maybe if he knew then he could tell them and they'd stop asking.  
"That's right Simon." The man smiled and held out a hand. "You can find out."  
A small hesitation, the man had been so cruel before, and Simon timidly grasped his hand.  
The man's smile grew.

Simon strode out of the ship onto the dusty planet. He shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun and took in the sight.   
This, they had told him, was where they had found him. Inside the large warehouse not two blocks from the spaceport.   
A good place to start looking for River.


	4. Like Spun Sugar are You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've found Simon! Yay! Or is it?

Months of tracking down rumours. False-leads and dead ends had blocked him until one sliver of hope.   
There had been a sighting.   
Mal had made Wash put on full-burn and when the ship had landed, he'd practically jumped onto the planet.   
Tyche. The planet they'd lost Simon.   
He cursed himself again. It was all his fault. He should have known better than to trust the trader.  
He'd been trying so hard to hide his relief at finally getting paid a decent amount of coin, that he'd just agreed when the man had asked for a doctor to assist one of his men.   
Things had been fine until Simon had been recognised and all hell had broken loose.   
In the firefight they'd lost sight of Simon and when they later searched there was no sign.   
Save a room with blood on the floor.

With Zoe and Jayne hard on his heels, he raced to where the call had come from. 

They slowed down upon sight of a brown shack on the outskirts of the spaceport. Wary of traps, they approached at different angles with hands on their guns.  
Mal reached the door first and, nodding at Zoe, they both entered.

Inside was dark, but Mal instantly recognised the man standing stiff against the far wall.   
"Simon! Are you a sight for sore eyes."

 

The man who entered was tall and dressed in earth tones. His piercing blue eyes had picked Simon out straight away before smiling happily. The woman who followed him in seemed similarly pleased.  
Simon wasn't sure what to make of that.   
He had found out from a group of rough men that the other time he'd come in on a ship. A firefly class smuggling ship.   
He'd had to kill quite a few before they'd cooperated, but with his alliance given skills he'd managed to avoid injury to himself. He'd then contacted the ship, using the traders wave system and a false identity.   
Maybe River was on this Serenity.


	5. I am Yours

Mal sat and watched over an unconscious Simon.   
Book was keeping an eye on River as she fiddled with complex chemicals and strange drugs.

They'd found Simon. But had they found their Simon?  
He'd seemed very quiet and cold. No mention was made of how long it had been, what had happened to him or where he had been hiding all this time. Claiming amnesia; he'd genuinely not recognised any of them, or Serenity when they approached the ship.   
One step up onto the ramp and River had come flying down towards them. Simon stopped and seemed to recognise her, a faint smile that vanished almost immediately.   
River had hugged him hard and then gently eased him down as he collapsed.   
Mal started forward, panicked, until he saw the smoother hidden in her sleeve. Then he was just confused.  
With tears running down her cheeks, River had requested him to help carry Simon to the med bay. When asked why she simply gazed sorrowfully at him until he'd gathered the limp man into his arms.

Now Mal was waiting for Simon to wake up. If it was Simon.


	6. And You are Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Simon eavesdrops without using his ears.

The crew were in the kitchen, listening to River.  
"... the drugs I'm using on him may be able to counteract the conditioning but there will be problems."  
"What I wanna know is how they managed to do to him in three months what it took them years to do to you?" Wash. Pilot. Cheerful and fun but with a hidden core of anxiety. Simon could feel it twinge and increase every time his wife and the captain interacted.  
"It's taken them this long to perfect the program. Also they didn't break me first. Simon was half-dead and suffering memory-loss when they found him. It didn't take much to break his will."  
"Poor Simon..." Kaylee. Mechanic. Also cheerful and full of love. Simon wasn't sure how she had managed to keep that core of goodness to her, even with all the dark thoughts that wavered around her mind. The heavy undertones of lust disturbed him.   
"So what problems are we talking about?" Mal. Captain. His thoughts raged constantly, a swirl of self-hate, anger at the universe and a deep guilt. He took far too much upon himself and refused to let anyone else ease the burden. A proud man, deserving of Simon's respect.  
"I don't know what side effects the drugs will cause. He built up high immunities with being inoculated against.."  
"Save the complicated stuff for those that understand it. What problems?" 

Simon rolled over onto his side and tuned them out. He felt nearly no real interest in them or the subject. He was more concerned about how he'd ended up here.  
River. She'd caught him off guard, filling her mind with Simon, Back and Finally! He'd felt the injection too late to stop it. Then he'd woken up here in the medbay, mind floating in a haze. Even now he couldn't get a clear reading of her feelings.  
He still couldn't remember them. He felt no identification with the memories they had of him. It was similar to watching a story about someone else.   
The memories he did have were of the torture and the training. Two very different sets of pain but both too terrible to think on for long.   
He knew that he'd been trained and set loose so that he could find River and take her back to them. But the unending compulsion to do so was muffled now. Besides, even if he did take her back, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't just end up being tortured again. The tracking device they'd implanted lay useless on the counter-top so there wasn't any way for them to find him.   
No. He needn't think about them anymore. There were other concerns at the moment.

Most worrying was the fact that he could hear someone else on top of the crew. Someone whose whispers were inaudible but constant. This other voice he couldn't ignore no matter how hard he tried to think on other things. It seemed familiar but not at the same time.  
Simon wasn't sure if he wasn't going mad. Or if he had gone mad and was only just realising it.


	7. Call me to You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is happening to Simon's mind...

Slowly Simon began to learn his way around the ship. The crew treated him with caution and a certain wariness. The general consensus had seemed to be 'Wait and See'.  
He was never allowed to be on his own with any crew member; River also cautioned against them approaching him. 

"Wait for him to come to you. He doesn't know you yet so give him time."  
"Do you think he'll ever get his memories back?" Book's gentle eyes hurt more than River needed at this point.   
She looked away, "I don't know."

Simon himself knew something was going wrong. He hid it from River because he didn't want more drugs and less awareness.   
He was fracturing. His personality was splitting straight down the middle. Already he could tell one side from the other. He named them Right and Left.   
The Right side was Simon as the crew saw him, even without true memories. Growing to steadily enjoy spending time with the mismatched crew and their crazy captain, he wanted nothing more than things to stay the same.  
The Left side was the person the Alliance scientists had turned him into. Cold, hard and cruel; he wanted to complete the task he'd been set.   
A core of fear deep inside kept Left paranoid. The Alliance would find them. And when they did... Left would be punished again.   
No matter what Right reasoned, Left was convinced that the only way to survive was to obey the commands of the dark man and the two blue-handed ones.  
Even now, as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, he could see Right and Left flickering across his expressions.  
"We need to take River and go back. We'll be punished if they find us first."  
"No. Mal and the others will protect us. Besides we have skills now that we can use against them."  
Left sneered. "Who do you think trained and gave them to us? And this crew is useless."  
"Don't say that. They've survived this long on the run. Who's to say they won't keep us safe?"  
"Jayne hates us."  
"Jayne is merely afraid. He won't do anything."  
"Yes he will. And you know it."  
Right could not argue. Simon had felt the simmering resentment towards River and himself from the very moment he'd laid eyes on the big merc.  
Sadly it was only a matter of time before he overcame his fear of the captain and tried to get rid of them.  
"Well," Left and Right spoke together, "When he does, we'll be ready."


	8. This Damned Valentine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Fight scene! ^_^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first ever fight scene. ^_^ Pi Qua Quan is the style Helena uses in the Dead or Alive video games.

Simon wandered down into the cargo bay. It was finally time for the reckoning. He paused outside the door and assessed the situation.

Anger was pulsing off Jayne in waves that filled the whole ship. They'd had to forgo yet another well-paid job due to Alliance presence on the planet. Once again they were floating through space, half-starved and understocked, praying the engine wouldn't break down before they got to the next potential job.  
It was all those gorram fugies fault. If they weren't around they could actually afford to buy stuff like food every now and then. If Mal hadn't insisted on keepin' them, everyone would have been better off.  
It was time for them to be gone. And Jayne was just the man to do it.

Right whimpered. He didn't want to fight Jayne. Jayne was big and strong, he had more fighting experience than anyone else on the ship. Simon in comparison was small and frail-seeming. Until a couple of months ago he'd never willingly done harm to another being. This could not go well in his opinion.  
Left snorted at Right's pessimism. Simon had been trained by the best and was enhanced through the program. He could feel where and when Jayne was going to attack before even the merc would know. The big man was going to get a shock if he thought fighting Simon would be easy.  
As he felt Jayne decide to hunt him down, Simon stepped into the cargo bay and faced him.  
Right was desperate to get away and find someone to protect them from the large man's wrath. Left shut him down and took over Simon completely. It was time to play.  
"Hello Jayne." Left smiled.

River paused mid-conversation with Mal and jerked in her seat. Her eyes went wide as she realised what was happening.   
"NO!" She tore from the cockpit and raced down the corridor.  
Mal sat stunned for a second or two before shaking himself and running after her.

Jayne growled. The prissy doctor was looking entirely too pleased with himself. Time to wipe that smirk off his pretty face.  
"Hell Doc, was just coming to find you."  
"Oh really? Is there something I can do for you?" Simon slowly tensed up in preparation. Soon.   
"Yeah! You can eat this!"   
Jayne's big fist sped towards Simon who ducked and spun away. He crossed his arms behind his back and smirked.  
"Really Jayne," the merc recovered his balance and glared at him, "Is that the best you can do?"  
With a roar, the bigger man charged with arms ready to crush.  
Again Simon ducked but this time Left kneed him in the side before spinning away. Right used the momentum to land a kick to Jayne's ankle, sending him crashing to the ground.  
Moving faster than you'd expect, Jayne was back up on his feet and he moved into a boxing position.  
Simon adopted a stance from the ancient style of Pi Qua Quan; feet apart and hands extended flat and rigid.   
Jayne curled his lip in a sneer before advancing. Surprisingly quick on his feet; he feinted with his right and jabbed with his left.   
Right brought an arm up to block the jab while Left extended a kick to knock Jayne off balance. Jayne dodged but Right managed to duck the retaliating right fist.   
The fight was on in earnest now. Jayne using his greater height and reach to keep Simon at a distance, the younger man dodging and landing quick hits here and there.

River burst out onto the catwalk above the cargo bay and gasped. She didn't know what to do. Simon would not let her interfere. She could finally feel how dangerous he was right now. How he'd managed to keep this hidden worried her.   
Mal came quickly up behind River and paused as he took in what was happening.   
Simon and Jayne were fighting. His protective instincts kicked in and he reached for his gun. Only River's hand on his wrist stopped him from placing a bullet in Jayne. She shook her head at him.  
"Watch."  
He did. And he saw that Simon was easily holding his own. In fact, it seemed like the slighter man was toying with the other. Where did Simon learn to move like that? He was like water, flowing effortlessly around Jayne's attacks and landing his own with a speed that shocked Mal. 

Right was yelling at Left. River and Mal were here. They were watching them. This was bad. This could change everything!  
You should have thought of that before you started helping me teach this jerk a lesson.  
Left grinned and delivered a punishing chop to Jayne's briefly unprotected neck. As the merc fell to his knees momentarily, Left followed up with a spin kick that sent him flying across the bay.  
Simon looked up and caught the gazes of the two upstairs. One shocked and the other concerned. Left sent a wicked grin up at them before Right could stop him and then Jayne was back in the fray.

The taller man was limping slightly and his ribs were hurting badly from that last kick. He wasn't going to go down that quickly though. Time to show the pretty boy what he could do. There was an old wrestling trick he'd learned from one of his merc buddies. That would surprise him.   
Simon allowed Jayne to close in on him, knowing what he was aiming for. The big arms broke through his fake defense and reached around him. Left twisted before they could tighten and, taking a good hold on both shoulders, he kicked and dropped. Jayne's feet left the ground and he went sailing over Simon's head and into the wall. Unconscious, he slumped to the ground, his head bleeding from where it had hit steel.

Simon stood up and brushed himself off. He was flushed and panting, but more from exhilaration than exertion. He glanced back up at the catwalk and sighed. This mess was going to take some work to tidy up.  
Mal was still in a daze from seeing his medic best a trained mercenary.  
River merely frowned down at her brother. What was happening to him?


	9. Roll the Dice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simon gets depressed. Mal saves the day.

The crew trusted him even less now. Jayne was still in the infirmary with concussion. River kept to herself, quiet and reproachful. And Simon was confined to quarters in the empty crew bunk.

Mal didn't know what to do. The boy was obviously suffering and if River was right, he was now two people.  
Why couldn't things just be simple in the 'verse?  
"Captain?"  
He moved upright in his chair and regarded his mechanic. Despite her smile, she was looking tired and a little worn. Hell, they all were.  
"What can I do for ya?"  
"I figured Simon would be hungry, seeing as he missed dinner and ain't allowed out..." She made a half motion with the tray of food in her hands and bit her lip.  
"Thanks Kaylee. I'll take it down to him now."

It was certainly sharp. The blade gleamed in the dull light and was surprisingly heavy in his hand.   
Lifting it from Zoe had been laughably easy. The skills granted him by the Alliance were useful after all.   
Left was in a black mood, and Right was depressed. Simon's mind swirled along dark pathways of despair.   
He would be given up to his torturers.   
It wasn't like he'd given them any choice. He had felt the anger and fear inside them and had withdrawn completely. He was too dangerous now and held no real connections to them anymore. He was not the Simon they remembered and still had no memories of who that was.  
It would be best for them to get rid of him. Perhaps they'd just kill him outright. Save themselves the danger of contacting the Alliance.   
Right nodded and curled up further in his section of Simon. Yes. There was no future for a half-crazed, amnesiac, experimental killer.  
Left sneered through Right's tears. Why sit here and wait for the crew to decide? It was their life. It was their choice. And better death than a return to the dark man.   
The blade pressed against a wrist before Right shook their head. Too slow. Their hand moved the knife tip to press between ribs, angled for their heart.   
A deep breath. Now.  
"NO!"  
Broad hands closed around Simon's wrists and pulled the knife from suddenly slack fingers. It clattered in the corner out of sight as Mal forced him against the wall.  
Left howled, thwarted. Right panicked.   
"What the hell?! Have you completely lost it?!?" Mal's eyes were wide and dark as he shook the younger man.  
"I-I...!" The feelings pouring off the Captain overwhelmed Right. Shock, anger and most of all, Fear.  
"What were you thinking!? Were you even thinking?!"  
"Screw you! It's our choice!" Left snarled at him and struggled with Right for full control. Right automatically fought back, still dazed from the sudden onslaught of Mal's thoughts.  
"Like hell am I going to let you kill yourself!" Mal used his greater weight and height as leverage, keeping Simon pinned in place.   
"Why? So you can do it yourself?"  
"WHAT!?!" 

A quick flash of River pulsed through Mal's memory.   
"...counteract the conditioning but there will be problems."  
"What problems?"  
"He may become depressed, suicidal even. I don't know what they did to him, but the memories of that are all that he has. They could overwhelm him; make him paranoid and distrustful."

Instantly calm, Mal slowly let up the pressure and moved away. He sat down on the bunk and regarded the now wary smaller man.  
"You really think I want to kill you?"  
Left growled but Right merely nodded. They stayed against the wall and waited for Mal's next move.   
"I don't. I want to help you."  
Left huffed disbelievingly. Right extended towards Mal's feelings and brushed against calm certainty. Confused now, Simon felt a small hope beginning to stir. 

"How 'bout we figure a way to stop the Alliance coming after you two anymore?"


	10. Deal the Cards Anew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smut.

There had been talking; plans hastily drawn up and just as quickly discarded. Right had grown more and more despondent while Left became angrier.  
Shouting had started and fists had flown. Somehow in the confusion of bodies Simon had ended up straddling Mal, pressing him to the floor and yelling at him.

You don't understand! Why won't you let me help you! I won't go back! I'll protect you! Better death than torture! I won't let you die! You don't care! Yes I do!

Mal reached up and pressed his mouth to Simon's, cutting him off mid-response. After a moment he pulled back.  
"I do care. More than I should."   
Their lips met again. 

Mal pulled Simon down against along his body, rubbing their clothed erections together.  
Left growled and took Mal's mouth in a punishing kiss, hands gripping the taller man's chin and shoulder. Right rocked down into Mal's thrusts, moaning happily at each spark of pleasure.  
Tongues tasting each other, Mal rolled them until he was on top. He pressed down hard and swallowed Simon's gasp.  
Simon's fingers ran through his hair, pulling him closer and trying to deepen the kiss. Mal grunted as his hair was pulled none too gently and pinched a nipple through shirt fabric in retaliation. Left bit down on the invading tongue and smirked with bloodstained lips when Mal jerked back.  
Mal panted, a little worried that he might just have unleashed a monster, but couldn't help responding as the younger man ground his hips upwards. Oh well. Might as well hang on for the ride.  
Moving away from those wicked teeth, Mal attached his mouth to the partially uncovered pale neck. Arms went round his shoulders and he nosed the fabric further open, dotting the creamy flesh with licks and nibbles. His lips tingled with the vibrations from each moan.  
Finally impatient for skin to skin; fingers found their way down to belts and trouser buttons, releasing straining erections to rub deliciously against each other.   
Simon was going to come just from this. The lust pouring off his captain was making his head spin and the air was hot as he gulped it down. Right was mostly incoherent and Left merely crowed for moremoreMORE.  
Then Mal's hand snaked it's way between them and held them both. A few jerks of that slick, tight grip and he was coming.   
Caught in orgasm, Simon was beautiful. Head thrown back, baring that slender throat, mouth open and gasping out a wordless cry, his hands clenched at Mal's shoulders as his body shuddered.  
Combining the vision beneath him and the feel of come coating his hand and legs tightening around his hips, Mal lost it.

Eyesight straightened itself out an indeterminate time later. He was sprawled on top of Simon who was still breathing hard. Pressing a kiss to the nearest patch of skin, he drew back.  
What a sight.  
Those gorgeous sapphire eyes were closed and the dark lashes fanned out across pale flushed cheeks. His neck and collarbone was patterned with bites that were painted red with Mal's own blood. The once pristine shirt was a mess; rumpled and stained with semen. Simon's pants were open and barely on his hips, leaving him exposed.  
Mal felt his cock twitch again at the debauched view.

Both Right and Left were humming happily in the afterglow. For the first orgasm in his memory, it had definitely been unforgettable.   
Feeling the weight of observation upon him, Simon opened his eyes and was immediately caught by a hungry blue gaze.

 

Simon rolled onto his side and regarded the man laying beside him. In a way this was both wonderful and terrible. Wonderful because he could feel Left and Right had merged slightly. Terrible because this meant he had all the more reason to worry.

Before he could get too wound up in a spiral of despair, blue eyes opened and he was greeted with a warm smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I first wrote this I didn't write the smut until much later. So this version has the smut added. Even though the smut itself isn't finished... XD


	11. Fortune Cries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They have a plan. Not necessarily a good plan. But still a plan.

"You're going ahead with it?"  
"Yes."  
"You'll be captured and tortured again. Experiment after experiment. You'll become like me and I'll never get my brother back."  
"River!," Simon gently laid his hands on her slender shoulders, "I won't let that happen. Trust me." He smiled softly at her and turned to leave.  
"Come back to me Simon."  
She was smiling weakly through a film of tears.  
"I will."  
He left and the door shut behind him. A final clang, like a death knell.  
River fell to her knees and sobbed. 

 

Mal was worried but kept a stoic mask firmly in place. Jayne was gleeful but knew better than to show it. He'd go celebrate on the next planet. The others were a mix of concern and fear, hope that this would work and relief that this could signal the end of their troubles with the Alliance.

Simon felt all this and smiled. Such a brief time to be among them but Right already loved the mismatched crew. Even Left held a grudging respect for them.   
Inside his mind Left and Right were beginning to merge completely, the mutual sense of purpose and belonging joining them at last.

He stepped forward into the Alliance base. 

It was time to finish this.


	12. And My Future is You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The original ending.

"Simon Tam. Such a pleasure to see you again. Such a shame that you return alone."  
Left and Right smiled together.  
"We didn't come alone."  
They activated the tracking device and the bomb Kaylee had wired up to it.  
"What is this?!" The dark man stumbled back, his face a mask of terror.  
"This is the end." I'm sorry Mal.

River screamed.

The world ended in fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My friend was NOT happy when I wrote this as the ending. I believe her words were, "What? Noo! Can't you kill off somebody else? Like Jayne?!"
> 
> XD
> 
> So I wrote an alternate happy ending. ^_^


	13. And My Future is You (Alternate Ending)

The bomb was set. The dark man was dead with a snapped neck.   
Right and Left had molded back into one mind.

Simon almost stayed. Surely it would be best for him to die here. The place where his world began.   
But blue eyes and a captivating grin had filled his heart with warmth.

Maybe some things were worth it.

He ran to where he knew the exit was. Taking out all in his way, the mental countdown to fire and death ticking in his mind.

10  
Two corridors to go. Throw a knife in the soldier with a gun.

6  
Round the corner. The door at the far end almost glowing like a beacon of hope.

3  
Door open. Serenity and Mal! Mal with hand out stretched, beckoning. Blue eyes locked onto blue.

1  
Hands meeting, grasping.  
"Simon!"

0

The explosion rocked the entire station. Simon and Mal were thrown to the floor, arms wrapped tightly around each other.  
Serenity's doors closed.  
Ears still ringing, slowly Simon began to hear their laughter.  
Mal held him close, tears of joy and relief streaming down their faces.  
"I thought I'd lost you." Kisses to cheeks, nose and temples.  
"I came back for you."  
Laughter and more kisses. Tears salty upon their lips.

Everything was going to be just fine.


	14. Extra notes.

Here is the original poem from Valentine.  
And the one I converted it into. ^_^

The rose is red, the violet's blue,

The honey's sweet, and so are you.

Thou are my love and I am thine;

I drew thee to my Valentine:

The lot was cast and then I drew,

And Fortune said it shou'd be you.

 

Thorny Roses are Red  
Forget-me-nots are Blue  
The Poisoned Honey is Sweet  
Like Spun Sugar are You  
I am Yours  
And You are Mine  
Call Me to You  
This Damned Valentine  
Roll the Dice  
Deal the Cards Anew  
Fortune Cries  
And My Future is You

I tried to make each chapter fit the line of the poem it was titled. Of course I only thought of all this when I had written the first chapter and wanted a suitably depressing title. Then decided I was going to make a full story. So needed something that could be used over several chapters. Was hunting through my story book (I love Fairytales ^_^ ) and inspiration hit with a story called Rose Red and Snow White. And the rest is obvious.   
Valentine isn't as angsty as I was going to make it because I got sidetracked part way through and Life seemed to improve suddenly. o0  
Oh well. I will go back over it and rewrite the bits I'm not happy with. But for now I guess it'll do.  
^_^


End file.
